DDaley

Can't wait to read your blog as well! I will see if I can get a passenger count estimate for your sailing at the Crown & Anchor event.

Getting excited for my first taste of Oasis class in just 7 days! This will be my third (& fourth!) cruise with Royal and cannot wait to see the mega beauty herself, having never seen anything bigger than Freedom class in person. This will also be my first semi-Side to Side... semi in that we have to spend a night in Miami between cruises. Still counts to me, twooo cruises, one vacation! Booking this came about because my boyfriend and I cruised in August 2019 on Freedom from San Juan and I got hooked on Royal and cruising in general. Right after that we went on Holland America’s Oosterdam in December 2019 and it further made clear our preference for Royal. I couldn't stand to wait in dry dock til Jan 2021 (at the time) so I snagged this 4-nighter on Oasis to hold us over. Like everyone else, this cruise has had several iterations and rebookings; it started as a May 2020 cruise, got swapped for a Nov 2020 cruise and finally Lift & Shifted to this Nov 3, 2021 itinerary. I added the Freedom 4-nighter right after as a way to see the renovated Coco Cay while also extending the value of my cross-country flight! I have been to Coco Cay once before (summer '98, baby!) so it should be fun to see how it's changed. Itinerary The mini Oasis sailing was originally slated as Labadee, got switched to Cozumel due to the unrest in Haiti and then switched a THIRD time to Nassau and Perfect Day at Coco Cay. Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on how you look at it) that means we’re essentially going on the same cruise twice on different ships! Oasis Day 1 - Departs Miami Day 2 - Perfect Day at Coco Cay Day 3 - Cruising Day 4 - Nassau - Day 5 - Debark + turnaround night in Miami, Penguin Hotel South Beach - Freedom Day 6 - Departs Miami Day 7 - Nassau Day 8 - Cruising Day 9 - Perfect Day at Coco Cay A vacation with Perfect bookends! Hard to complain about that. Who’s Going - my fiancé (Adrian) and I (Daryl) Cabins Oasis - Ocean View Balcony 10554… our first non suite. Ahh! We will see how we fare with the smaller room and lack of walk in closet! Haha Freedom - Ocean View Balcony 1880. I am excited to be on deck 12 with easy Lime & Coconut access. I also put in a bid for a GS that was slightly above the “weak” segment so we’ll see! Pre-Purchases I got us the DBP + Voom Surf and Stream for both legs of this trip - $61/day on Oasis and $75/day on Freedom. $75 was the sale price, too! Since this may be my only OA class for awhile I also snagged us the 3-night Dining Package for Oasis so we can try Chops, 150CP and Giovanni’s. I am also thinking about adding Giovanni’s again on the Freedom leg because the menu appears to be different! I kept waiting and waiting for the UDP to appear for OA but it never did. We will also be using some leftover OBC at Playmakers and Portside for sure. Excursions Since our itinerary was changed so many times for Oasis I really don’t have anything scheduled for our first 2 PDCC and Nassau stops. In Nassau we are thinking we will do a walking tour I found on these boards and grab some conch fritters at Oh Andros, then have a chill beach day at Coco Cay. I am eyeing the Up, Up and Away balloon but I hear it has a low chance of going up this time of year. At $74 each it seems pricey for those few minutes of incredible views but I may just yolo book it. On the Freedom leg, we booked the Snorkel & Sail excursion in Nassau and have Thrill Waterpark tickets for PDCC. I got these for $46.99 and haven’t seen it that low since! (I had them on a Nav cruise for the outrageously low price of $29 but it was sadly cancelled) Mid Cruise Hotel We are once again being cruising renegades as the best non-stop flights to Miami leave San Diego the night before the cruise and get in at 5am on the morning of, eliminating the need for a pre-cruise hotel. I feel like the 12 hours of wiggle room are enough to get us through. We have never been to Miami (Aside from our forced overnight near the airport on the way home from San Juan last time) so I wanted to stay in South Beach to get a real feel for it. I chose Penguin Hotel for this stay! Ocean Drive, directly across from the beach and had a “penthouse” (read: third floor) suite with a luxurious 1,000 sq ft “terrace” (read: roof of the hotel). I am anticipating a Bird Cage Art Deco vibe! One does want a hint of color. Hmm, what else? I bought the 6 pack of Binax AG Card tests, so that’s our Covid Testing Plan between cruises although Royal said they would take care of it. I like to always be prepared juuust in case! I hope to up my game on the live-ness of this blog, and take more ship pictures this time as I marvel at the beauty of Lady O. I am excited to see the AMP Freedom received since we last sailed her, too. Only 7 regular sunsets before the ultimate: SHIP SUNSETS are back in my life!

I went to Magens both pre-pandemic in August 2019 and post- in August 2021 and both times we had no trouble finding a taxi (aka converted truck/bus) whenever we decided to leave. On both occasions there were about 3 taxis lined up and waiting for return trips. I can also attest to there being no trash (??) anywhere on the beach.. maybe that previous comment was determined from the parking lot/ticket window alone? Keep in mind the beach entry fee is $5 pp once you arrive.

A Panama crossing was on my list but I will make sure to look for this as a stop. Everything I know about Cartagena I learned from the 1984 romantic adventure classic, Romancing the Stone, so your skyline photo makes it look so impressive!

yep, to echo what @Pattycruise said, 3:00 is the starting point I think. I have two November cruises and I have updated the check-in time 3 times on each; from 3pm to 1pm and then again to 12pm/11:30am. Once you fully check in you can continually check the app for earlier times and change your time while retaining the existing passenger information.

You can do this now in a tricky way which is how I found all the cruises going to the ABC islands.. Some cruises only go to A and C but I wanted all three so I searched for Bonaire as a port destination and got all the results that included it! You can do this by going to the hamburger drop down menu in the upper left > Cruise Destinations > Cruise ports. This brings you to a full list of the ports RC sails to. Find the port that interests you, click on it and scroll down to the list of itineraries available that include the port. Use the blue on white navigation to scroll to the end of this list and click "View all itineraries in this category" Boom!

The one thing I have left to purchase only fluctuates in price during the advertised "sales" - I do check every day. I have been buying Christmas presents and putting off my last purchase but I am hoping it goes down one more time prior to then.

My Oasis sailing changed from Labadee to Cozumel and it took 8 days to make the change in the cruise planner. The same cruise changed AGAIN this morning to Nassau and Coco Cay so I am in the CP waiting place again, too. I wonder if there will be another sale before Nov 3... Halloween savings?!?!

Keep checking! My Nov 8 Freedom has gone from a 3pm check in to 1pm and then bumped again to 12pm and my Nov 3 Oasis just opened slots as early as 11am when I had previously had a 1pm check in.

Yes, this is the correct, proctored test. Not sure why you got so many conflicting answers, it just needs to have the "Ag Card" designation.

I sail November 3rd and was supposed to stop in Labadee on the 5th. Royal alerted me on September 10th that it was being changed to Cozumel.. following that timeline you'd think they would've told you by now.

This made me actually lol! I have only seen a baby alligator once in New Orleans so I am on team See-an-alligator-while-in-Florida, too. Like @PPPJJ-GCVAB, I am getting off Oasis the day you guys start your adventure. Can't wait to see your posts! We S2S and get off Freedom on the 12th and I will absolutely need some fresh Oasis content to drown my sorrows! hahaha

I am sailing Nov 3. The check-in window was open, we checked in fully and got our boarding time and then they closed it for the 45 day thing. It re-opened yesterday and all my info was intact as well as my previously selected check-in time. I didn't have to do anything.

I had it made by a jeweler friend at the beginning of the pandemic, but searching 'mask lanyard' on a site like etsy yielded some great results. Like this one!

I am team mask-lanyard allll day (although I havent religiously worn masks since CA dropped the mandate in June) and love how easy it is to remove to eat/drink while also not having to worry about shoving it in a pocket and all the excessive fabric touching that goes with that. I have been on two vacations since covid and we just brought a ton of varying cloth masks each to deal with the constant need to swap it out for a fresh one. I could see the lanyard being handy when you're walking the ship and moving between locales that do and do not require masks.

My cruises, an S2S to me, don't qualify for a Royal test as the second one leaves a day after the first returns, so I have a night in Miami booked. I am thinking of bringing the Binax/Voom as my plan A and having an Antigen test either booked or taken at MIA on that day in between as plan B. ... wait, Binax could still be my plan B once I have LTE in Miami! Wow. And the 6 pack is a great find. Thanks!

Do you think this would work while on a cruise to test for the second one that leaves a day after? I will have voom!

On my Oasis cruise Nov 3rd, the UDP has never been available for purchase and I got access to the CP over a year ago when I L&S'ed from the same cruise in 2020. I keep checking regularly but it has never appeared. My cruise directly following on the Freedom Nov 8 has had the UDP available since booking.

I just took an antigen test in Jamaica for my return to the US and it only took ~2 minutes to get the result! Crazy. But that test would cost ya. I got a PCR test at the CVS for my arrival there and did get it within 2 days. I hope you get yours in time!

I have used a Loksak waterproof bag on solo beach vacations when I don't want my money/phone abandoned on the beach for the inevitable 30 minutes or more that I stay in the ocean. I bring my phone, hotel key and credit cards/cash into the ocean with me and clip them around my waist or to the float I am using with a fanny pack type bag like this one. My other items stay on the beach but the most important items come with me. Can attest that the Loksak bags work great, no water has even broken the seal and I swim for loong periods of time. Also, I have used the same set for the last 10 years of vacations so they are durable as well, aside from the plastic getting cloudy over time.

Yeah, I always bring my own low ride floaties to lazy rivers, sitting in the donut tube hurts after awhile. Haha I once managed 63 laps in one day at the Harrah's SoCal, we kept track with a mulch tally as we floated along.

I have only stayed in an inside cabin once as an 11 year old on Sovereign and decided right then it was not for me! On my other 3 cruises I have stayed in a junior suite (called Signature on HAL) and now you all have me nervous that my next 3 in a row in an ocean view balcony are going to be too cramped! This shower sounds awful, how did I not take the tiny bathroom into account?! We'll see if I turn into a "JS and above" person after our S2S November 3rd-12.

We stopped in Antigua in August 2019 and did a Royal excursion that circumnavigated the whole island so you could see all of its "365 beaches" from the boat. At lunch they stopped on the southeast side of the island at a secluded beach for lunch and snorkeling. I believe in the cruise planner it was called Antigua by Sea? The lunch was great and of course the boat staff was fun and entertaining.

This happened to me on my Oasis cruise to Labadee in Nov, had a snorkel/speedboat tour booked and then one day it was just gone from my calendar and order history, no cancellation or anything and the cruise planner credits were back in my account. The same speedboat tour is still available without being combo'd with snorkeling which I found weird, too!

How do you go about repricing Air2Sea flights? Do I just call Royal if I see a lower price or do I have to somehow cancel and rebook? I just made my first booking for a San Juan cruise next year.